We may not be doing much to impede the manufacture of methamphetamine in Indiana, but we are doing a better job of tracking its destruction.
Last week the clandestine meth lab registration website — in.gov/meth/2371.htm — was introduced.
House Enrolled Act 1141, co-authored by state Rep. Dave Ober, R-Albion, which addresses properties that have been affected by methamphetamine, was signed into law by Governor Mike Pence.
“Prospective home buyers should have all the facts before they choose a home,” said Ober in a press release. “This law provides new consumer protections so Hoosier home buyers know what they are getting before they sign on the dotted line.”
The new law enables people to know whether a home has been the site where methamphetamine was either manufactured or dumped. This information will be maintained by the Indiana State Police on a website that will list all properties that have been in contact with meth, even those that are already taken off of the public list.
Buyers will be able to see within the buyer’s agreement or Realtor’s statement if a home has a history with meth and whether that property has been properly decontaminated.
More needs to be done
To make meth, cooks need the pseudoephedrine that is found in certain over-the-counter cold medicines.
State Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, submitted a bill that would have made pseudoephedrine available in Indiana by prescription only.
Smaltz pointed out that Indiana has set records for numbers of meth labs seized in each of the last seven years, with 1,808 found this year. He pointed out that since the statewide database tracking pseudoephedrine purchases has been in full effect, the state has seen a 29 percent increase in the number of meth labs recovered.
Ober was a co-sponsor of the bill. But his testimony did not support it.
Terre Haute Police Sgt. Chris Gallagher, who testified last winter at the Indiana Statehouse in favor of making pseudoephedrine a controlled substance, said the over-the-counter medication is a money-maker for the pharmaceutical industry and for retailers. Gallagher testified that an estimated 70 to 90 percent of the PSE sold in Indiana is diverted to meth, rather than for treatment of cold symptoms. The drug industry disputes those figures.
According to the National Institutes of Health, “Ephedrine as a treatment for asthma reached its zenith in the late 1950s, since when there has been a gradual and inevitable decline in its therapeutic use. From mainstream medicine, ephedrine moved into the twilight zone of street drugs and nutritional supplements. Ephedra and ephedrine products are now banned in many countries, as they are a major source for the production of the addictive compound methamphetamine (crystal meth).”
We applaud the establishment of Indiana’s clandestine meth lab registration website. And we urge our legislators to take the common sense approach of making pseudoephedrine available by prescription only.
Meanwhile, the meth tip line is 800-453-4756. Or use the form at in.gov/meth. The website also has information about meth lab cleanup.